#1 most frequent
United States of America
84.4%604 installations of 716
What is ServiceChannel?
ServiceChannel provides facilities managers with a single platform to source, procure, manage, and pay for repair and maintenance services from commercial contractors across their enterprise. The company aims to deliver transparency and data-driven analytics of service quality, across all trades, locations, and contractors, allowing facilities managers drive significant brand equity and ROI for their organizations without outsourcing or investing in new infrastructure.
Categories & Use Cases
Media
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Who Buys & Uses ServiceChannel
#2 most frequent
Canada
3.2%23 installations of 716
#3 most frequent
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
2.7%19 installations of 716
ServiceChannel works and it works well.
Pros
- ServiceChannel just works, they are no breakdowns or glitches in the system to speak of. When a service request is put in the system it can be tracked at any time, you can check on the status and notes can be inserted by the manager or the vendor so there is always a live and historical account on every service request. The proposals and invoices system is simple to use and works perfectly.
- Emergency Requests - If you have an emergency facilities request then a vendor is required to respond with 4 hours but if ServiceChannel don't see a vendor responding within an hour or so they then call the vendor to get a status update and if they can't get a hold of the vendor then they call the facilities manager at our company and notify them of the emergency. With this system, emergencies don't just go unnoticed.
- Analytics - ServiceChannel has an amazing analytics program that analyzes all your data which you can access at any time, there are standard reports and you can also customize reports. The reports can show you what store or region has the most calls, what are the most common problems in the stores, what is the average cost of the work, which vendor charges more than average, which vendor has the best response time and the list goes on and on. You can get the data on spreadsheets or graphs. The program gives you the ability to slice and dice all your data any way you want.
- ServiceChannel is very intuitive and so it is easy to use and very easy to learn. A new store manager only needs 10 or 15 mins of training and they are ready to use the system.
Cons
- Each vendor you use has to be added to your vendor list, although there are already a lot of vendors that use ServiceChannel there are also a lot that don't use it so getting vendors set up and using the system correctly can be very frustrating
- The program is not cheap although you only pay for the features you use. There are so many features that it can be confusing for the average facility manager, sometimes I think we are paying for stuff we never use.
- ServiceChannel is always adding new features which is good but you need to take the time the stay updated.
Return on Investment
- At anytime you can see the running total of the invoices so it gives you an idea as to where you are with the facility budget.
- The program allows you to analyze the vendors' performance as far as response times, time to complete a job, average cost of a job and also their fee compared other vendors doing the same type of work. This type of info allows you to better negotiate with your vendors and let them know you are monitoring the performance, overall it leads to greater transparency and reduced costs.
- The system works well so the ratio of stores each facility manager can manage is very high which ultimately saves having extra personal managing the facility process.
ServiceChannel Review in a Flash
Pros
- Up to the minute updates, so when you go to look up a work order, it is live with the most recent notes from vendor, office, etc.
- File retention - it keeps all WOs so you can go back and research previous issues for investigating, asking questions of the vendor, etc.
- Asset Tagging - it allows you to track all of your assets
Cons
- Should be able to provide overall rating for vendors across all users that use Service Channel
- Work on the sometime slowness or lag in the program
- Allow vendors the capability to use some of the items that users are able to do, for example, be able to set up vendors to do site audits
Return on Investment
- It increased visibility on how much we were spending on HVAC repairs/replacements and allowed us to make changes to reduce costs
- Before we were using paper invoices from the vendors, which creates a scenario of losing/missing invoices into AP. Then we start using the Service Channel invoicing and reduce errors to below 1%.
- Gives you the capability to add trades and adjust to your needs, so you can get better tracking of specific items.
ServiceChannel Will Make You Better
Pros
- Quick and easy ability to request a work order be created. Able to provide a quote as a proposal and then allow the customer to approve and convert to a work order.
- Easy Invoicing.
- Easy for customers to provide work orders as a way to request assistance.
Cons
- This system will always require someone to actively be available to convert proposals. There are still delays depending on the human element of the process.
- Lots of features and some are not always intuitive.
- Integration to the current procedure would be nice. Seems this requires the addition of a new system through this Service Channel application/Website. If it were to integrate to current offerings such as SalesForce it may be helpful.
Return on Investment
- The time it takes to process invoices and send/receive work orders is decreased as it is now automated.
- This simple system requires minimal input, reducing the time it takes to process orders.
- Manages users and locations, helps to quickly identify proper channels.
Why I have NO Regrets in switching to Service Channel
Pros
- ServiceChannel listens to me the user more than any other product I have ever been involved with. It seems like every few months there are some upgrades and improvements to an already great system.
- They have some great folks employed who are very accessible and very knowledgeable in this system, they are eager to help out and jump in, and they are never trying to up-sell me during these times.
- I believe they have some of the best practices around for helping out new vendors, who have never been exposed to any CMMS system, they help to ease the fear that contractors/vendors have from the onboarding process thru system training.
Cons
- I think that there is room to improve the contractor side of their mobile app, to be more content rich and have more features and custom ability.
- I think there could be some use in setting up some regional training seminars across the country for both user and vendor to attend thru out the year.
- I would like to be able to add several pictures from my phone at one time, via the mobile app, and be able to draw or write on them as well.
Return on Investment
- It is increased Viability, no longer do VPs call their RMs who then call me or their operators to see what is the status of a particular project? anyone who wants to look can see and be heard via notes.
- Also in the gathering and processing of invoices, this used to be a very intensive job handled by many folks printing invoices and trying to send in and get approvals etc, all by hand.. the time and aggravation saved by going to this system has been well received and is worth every penny we paid, to end the madness.
An honest review of the Service Channel platform by a multi-site facilities professional.
Pros
- They offer a platform that enables seamless communication between the store, vendor, district manager, and myself (facilities manager). By utilizing the notes portion of the work order, all parties involved are notified and kept up to speed on any changes in real time.
- SC also allows independent specialization to meet the individual needs of each company. I have set up my dashboard to customize my desire for more detail or pictures per element. This has eliminated the necessity of a reply email to the store partners to upload a picture of the issue. I have it set up so individual elements will require a picture prior to the WO being created. This is a big time saver and forces good communication habits.
- There support staff is second to none. They are helpful and available to support your needs and the needs of your vendors.
Cons
- Sometimes the functionality of the software is slow.
- Example...I insert a WO# into the home search box and it comes up with "nothing found". I return to the home screen and repeat the exact same process and it takes me to my WO. This happens at least 50% of the time.
- They just finished up with a system upgrade (I think), and during the 3 week period I could not pull mass approved invoices for my AP department. That was a real hindrance.
- I am not particularly fond of the new dashboard format. It's not as easy to move around in. However it's new and I'm sure I will get used to it quick enough.
Return on Investment
- SC allowed me to come into a new position with a territory that I was unfamiliar with and totally understand my market and needs within hours of starting my new job. I used the skills acquired from my former job to understand what I needed to know, and than I used the SC format to find the answers to my questions.
- SC allowed me to come into my new position 2 years ago and dramatically reduce my R&M costs in under a month. SC allowed me the opportunity to review total costs historically, and from there I was able to identify under-performing and over charging vendors. Once identified I was able to make the changes to get the appropriate vendors in the right spots for success.
- SC allows for very easy vendor change out. I was able to make mass changes to the entire portfolio in minutes rather than hours.
